With LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releasing soon, now would be the perfect time to revisit LEGO The Lord of the Rings for a new and improved sequel. Much in the way that LEGO Star Wars is getting an update with the new game, a new Lord of the Rings LEGO title could improve mechanics from the original. It could also explore plots and characters that were skimmed over or didn't make it into LEGO's previous Middle-earth games, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, at all.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga revisits all the films previously seen in games up to The Force Awakens, but it's now allowing fans to see The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker through a LEGO lens. The latest trailer for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga showed more over-the-shoulder shooting gameplay and teased over 300 playable characters. It's the most ambitious LEGO Star Wars game ever, and Lord of the Rings deserves the same kind of treatment.
Before Skywalker Saga, LEGO Star Wars covered the original trilogy and prequel trilogy - as well as a standalone game for The Force Awakens. Rather than releasing single games for The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, developer Traveller's Tales chose to revamp the previous films' adaptations and release TLJ and TRoS as part of an all-in-one set. On the surface, it might seem initially strange for this same method to be applied to LEGO Lord of the Rings, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
LEGO Lord Of The Rings Could Resolve The Hobbit's Cliffhanger Ending
Just like with the new LEGO Star Wars game, a new-and-improved LEGO Lord of the Rings could explore a film in the franchise that hasn't gotten its moment to shine yet. The final LEGO game for The Hobbit was never released - not even as DLC to the base game. Instead, the sole LEGO The Hobbit game simply covers the first two films and ends on the same Desolation of Smaug cliffhanger.
For whatever reason, no LEGO version for The Battle of the Five Armies was ever released. In a statement, Warner Bros. clarified that there were no plans to release a game - or even DLC - for Five Armies. After both LEGO Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were removed from digital storefronts, there was speculation of license disagreements. When the LEGO LotR games reappeared on Steam without warning, it just added to the confusion.
Despite these strange happenings, a return to the world of LEGO Lord of the Rings would be an excellent way to cover all three LotR films as well as The Hobbit movie trilogy. It would provide some much-needed resolution with Battle of the Five Armies content while also getting improvements on mechanics, levels, and characters seen in previous games. Much like how Skywalker Saga covers the nine mainline Star Wars films, a new LEGO Lord of the Rings could - and should - cover all six of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies.
Why LEGO Lord Of The Rings Deserves A New Game
In 2012, when LEGO Lord of the Rings was first released, it was the second LEGO game ever to feature full-on voice acting (after LEGO Batman 2, which came out earlier that same year). However, not all players have been a fan of the films' voiceovers replacing the more classic mumbling and cartoonish grunts seen in older LEGO games. This is perhaps why LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga is fixing this issue, by adding in an optional "Mumble Mode" that harkens back to a time before the games' characters repeated lines from the movies. A new LEGO Lord of the Rings game could add these kinds of options and quality-of-life improvements as well.
The open-world exploration that's present in LEGO Lord of the Rings also allows players to explore Peter Jackson's version of Middle-earth in a leisurely but surprisingly accurate way. Even now, after various games like Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor, LEGO Lord of the Rings arguably offers the best version of Tolkien's fantasy world. Almost a decade later, there's something inherently fun about riding a goat through the Shire and slapping hobbits with Sam's frying pan. Likewise, peering out from the peak of Minas Tirith and looking over Gondor or exploring Rivendell for secrets offer plenty of memorable ways for LotR fans to have fun.
While over 300 playable characters in LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga is one of its most exciting aspects, this same kind of treatment could be done for LEGO Lord of the Rings. There were various characters that weren't playable (some were available later on as DLC) and the same goes for characters in the LEGO Hobbit game. Adding in all the characters from LEGO Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and previous DLC (along with new additions) would rival the roster seen in Skywalker Saga.
New DLC for LEGO Lord of the Rings could be another way to keep the game fresh and potentially explore characters not seen in the films. Amazon's new Lord of the Rings show, The Rings of Power, could also offer - or at least inspire - LEGO iterations of characters from The Silmarillion or Tolkien's other written works. The Skywalker Saga will be getting LEGO Star Wars DLC based around shows like The Mandalorian, and a new LEGO Lord of the Rings game could follow this same kind of model.
For now, a new LEGO Lord of the Rings game seems more like a pipe dream than anything else. However, assuming Traveller's Tales and Warner Bros. can come to a licensing agreement, it would be a great way to revisit Middle-earth and resolve LEGO The Hobbit's ending. Tolkien's world - and Peter Jackson's films - have plenty of characters and story points that could be added or revised for a new game, so it wouldn't feel like an uncessary retread. Once LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is out, it'd be great to see a similar treatment given to LEGO Lord of the Rings.